Railway-locomotive.



T. BRIGG.

Patented May 28, 1912,

- 3 SHIIETB-SHEET 1.

Fl 'l. TRACTIVE CAPACITY t-1-,22o L85. U

OLD METHOD OF SUSPENSION Fig.2.

NEW

T. H. BRIGG.. RAILWAY LOOOMOTIVE, I APPLICATION FILED APR. 18, 1912.-

1,027,81 O. Patented May 28, 1912.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

T. 11.3mm. RAILWAY LOGOMOTIVE. APPLICATION FILED APILIB, 1912.

Patented May 28', 1912.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

- NVENTOR WITNESSES:

THOMAS H. BRIGG, OF GCDSTONE, ENGLAND.

nainwaY-noooluorrvn.

Specification of J letters Patent. I

. Application filed April 18,

Patented May 28,1912. 1912. Serial No. 691,566.

tives, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in the design and construction of railway l0- comotives in --conjunction.with their tenders and interposed cabs, their suspension, and

' propulsion; and the objects of my improvements are, first, to aiford far greater safety to. the general traveling public; and, second,

to effect far greater economy and efliciency in the performance of their work especially when negotiating curves and climbing gradients than can possibly be efiected by the imperfect and dangerous methods now in use. Iattain these objects by a locomotiveboiler tender and cab inter 'osed between them, connected to each other and to a supporting frame so as to form .a long rigid and 'infrangible structure providing a long flexible wheel base, having a plurality of pivotal driving and supporting trucks located at or near the extremities of said structure as illustrated .in Figure 2. of the accompanyingdrawings, if} which Fig. 1, isa' side elevation of a modern e Br l h loco notive and detachable tender,

having a total weight, of 240,632 lbs. with atractive capacity of only 14,220 lbs. Fig.

2 'isjaside elevation illustrating the im-' proved design and construction embodylng the same boilerand same capacity of tender asrin Fig.1,butznow ivinga -tractive capacity-of 56,133 'lbs; Flg. '3, is a side elevation ofamodernBritish tank-engine weigh- -"ing'138,88 0"lbs. with only 80,640 lbs. bearing. upon its 8'3 rigid wheel base; Fig.

4,' is. a sideelevation of the same boiler as shown in Fig. 3, w.ith a slightly deeper and longer .tender with the forward end of the boiler resting upon a long based bolster. .Fig. 5, is, a side elevation of an 8 free supporting wheels. Fig. (i, is side elevation of-thesame boiler as'shown in center bumpers. Fig. 8, :is a graphic diagram showing only 4,500 lbs. of a lateral outward angle with side bumpers, with the same buckling force as in Fig. 7. Fig. 9, is a graphic diagram showing two cars at a given angle with center bumpers, fixed to ends of cars. Fig. 10, is a graphic diagram showing two carsat-the same angle as in fFig. 9, with center bumpers fixed to the pivotal trucks.

Fig. 1, shows the-ordinary suspension of a modern British 4-coupled locomotive and .detached tender. The former" weighing 149,632 lbs. while the "latter weighs 00,496 lbs., or a total of 240,128lbs. ofwhich only 60,580 lbs. are carried upon the two sets of drivin wheels X-X', forming, a rigid wheel base 0 .7 feet-3 inches. Well now, since the measure of the coefficient of friction be-,

the measure of thetractive capacity of the locomotive; and, that the friction is dependsurface, then, if we take this factor to represent 4i26 of the weight on the drivers, we shall find that the tractive capacity of the locomotive and tender.Fig. 1. is 14,220 lbs. less that amount which is due to the autoplurality of said driving trucks D D 10-- cated at or near the extremities of said structure, we now, find, under these 1mproved conditions that the said 240,128 lbs.

tween the driving wheels and therailsisent upon (a) the weight upon the driving wheels, and (bithe condition of the rail matic transference of weight from-the drivf ers X X, to the free wheels Y, whereas in so compiled, carried, and driven, will yield a tractive capacity of no less than 56,133 lbs. as against only 14,220 lbs. when detachably compiled, carried and driven as in Fig. 1. Ittherefore follows that a locomotive weighing only 61,000 lbs. properly designed and constructed, as described, would be effective 'in' haulingthe same load as one weighing-240,128 lbs. designed and constructed as set forth, in Fig. 1. The wheel base of'the locomotive should 'be nearly. equal in length. to that of'the coaches. Just as large wheels run more easily over rough roads from the fact that they bridge over many hollow parts instead of sinking deeper into them, so it is with a long flexifast when negotiating curves ona long flexi- Me wheel base-as it would travel on a short base. By discarding the, detached tender,

. one of the. greatest mechanical "defects which has probably caused 8 out of every 10 derailments, broken rails, rail-spreading and track-jumping accidents, viz. the excessive over-lap of the rear extremity of the locomotive, over that of the front end of "the tender together with the unsatisfactory tender forms one rigid structure it is not mounted upon a flexible wheel base, or upon method of connecting the en inc and tender, has been entirely= removed by the new method of construction and suspension as heretofore described.

Fig. 3. is an elevation of-a modern British tank engine driven by two sets of driving wheels X X, forming a rigid wheel base 8 feet 3inches long. Thetotal wheel base being 27- feet. Although this boiler and pivotal driving trucks. And if it were so mounted it would not make an efficient loco- I motive'froin the fact that it would not run so steadily, so easily, or so safely on curves.

due tothe center of gravity of the mass load above the trucks traveling nearly the full radius of every curveinstcad of bridging them over, to a very material degree as would base. I

Fig. 4. is an illustration of the preceding boiler, and tender with its short rigid frame work mounted upon pivotal trucks'to show that'in order to get suflici'ent 'Wei'ght upon the rear driving'truckD, it would have to be moved considerably farther forward than the position shown which is already toofar forward to avoid'lateral strains being efi'ected upon thenext-adjoining coach when-'en-- teringa: curve, and resisting buckling forces on a curve. To secure anythingapproacli be the case with a much longer wheel ing economic conditions it would be necessary to make the'bolster J J, with a much more forwardlyextended base, as indicated at a in Figs. 2 and 4: and a much longer frame-workyin order to secure efficiency and safety. To increase the length of wheel base is to, practically widen itwhen on a; curve, therefore, to avoid undue lateral thrusts against theou-tside rails it is'essential that the center of gravity -of the locomotive should be such that theresultant obliquely downward thrust upon the outside rail should be at such an angle as not to cause 'a shearing force at the spikes. Hence the im-" portan'ce of lifting the. center of gravity-of that artforming the tender which has hitherto een too low withdi-sastrous' results in' the form of rail-breaking and spreading and the like.

' a Fig. 5. is an American tank engine which,

although it lends itself somewhat more favorably to the adaptation of thenew-suspension, 'yet, the length of rigid frame-work is' not by anymeans so long as it. should be.

Fig. 6. shows a slightly extended and more elevated tender; also, it shows the forward end of the boiler resting in, and fixed to, a

long based bolster J, suitably attached to the extendedframe worln'as is also shown in Figs. 2 and 4. The bolster J, is to give a more rigid formation to the boiler and frame-work and to secure a firm bearing for the forward truck. Not-with'sta'nding all this, it cannot be said that the length of wheel base isanything like what it should be to' secure the maximum of efliciency and safety in the negotiation of curves. In the case of driving trucks it might be foundof advantage'to use a free supporting wheel E merely for steadying purposes, with very little weight upon-it. It is important that f both 'the driving, and all free wheeled, trucks should be fitted with central or side bumpers; and that the said bumpers shall form part of the rigid frame-work ofthe said trucks; and not to formpart. of the mechanism of the frame-work of the loco-1' Y motive, the tender, or of the coaches as here; tofore from the fact that upon a resolution of the forces as set forthin thegraphicdiarams, Figs. 7 8, 9, and 10, it is made inani estly clear that the rail spreading, rail-. breaking, and track jumping forces are very much greater and more dangerous in case of bumpers which are fitted to thecenters of the rigid frame-work of the locomotive, the

tender, or the coaches,'than if the said bumpers were fitted to the center and forming part of the rigid frame-work of the driving and free wheeled trucks. In verification'of this statement it is deemedessential that an explanation be given-as to how these forces. are arr1ved-at.- Therefore, inasmuch as F1gs.,

9and More to. a larger scale it might suflice [to explain these twowith passing reference -dissimilarity to meet the dissimilar conditions. I

Fig. 9. It is important to ,point out that this figure re-presentsthe plan View of the coupled ends of two coaches anywhere between the locomotive and the last coach not forming the latter; because the forces exertedupon the first and the last :vehicles are very different indeed when negotiating a curve with the brakes applied. \Vhile the first and the last vehicles tend to be spun upon their wheel base, it is note-worthy that all intermediate vehicles experience such forces as tend to throw both their ends over the off-side rails simultaneously. The spinning tendency of the locomotive with ashort rigid wheel base is a most dangerous feature from the fact immediately the brake is appliedon a curve the buckling forces are immensely intensified by,the said spinning tendency to .twist and lock the short wheel base between the rails thus setting u enormously increased buckling forces which are capable of bending or breaking any rail ever made. These forces do not take place in any other part of the train. Let points 1, 2, 3 and 4, represent the four Wheels and axles ofone truck of which C is the pivotal pin. In like manner let points 5, 6, 7 and 8 represent the four wheels and two axles of another truck of which D isthe pivotal pin.

These said trucks are upon the two dotted rails A B and E G, with the ends of the coaches indicated by the numerals 9 10 11 and 12 in the first-coach while those of 13 let 15 and 16 indicate the end of the second I coach. Point F isthe center pin of the to the frame-werk of the t-rucks'instead of- Am'erican combined coupler and bumper.

which forms a part of the over-lapping ends of the rigid frame-work of the main body of each coach. Therefore, if we now project the center'lines F C E, and F D G, and set off 50,000 lbs. 'downF E, cutting at H, and 50,000 lbs. down F .G, cutting at I, then F H and F I will form two sides of the parallelogram H F I J, the diagonal J F will represent the resultantdirection and magnitude (45,250 lbs.) of lateralthrustat the outer rail for every 50,000 lbs. of buckling force through E F and G F.-

Fig.10, however, with thebumpers fitted The reduction is accounted for 1n this way:

:fThe curve, the wheels, and axles, together Withthe bodies of the coaches shall hold precisely the "same relative'positions with each other as in Fig. 9. But as the two dottedlines Q '11, and R 15, now indicate the ends of the two'truckswith H represent-- ing the ordinary American coupling and bumper, we must proceed to resolve the new forces by again projecting the center lines of the coaches viz. E C, and G D intersecting at F. The bumpers, however, are no longer at F but at H; therefore, inasmuch as H has become the center of moments we must resolve the component and resultant forces at this point; and we mustproceed as follows: From H project the line H K which shall be equal tolandparallel with I F (inFigfl-t -fi wihcn gives us one component force at H. Before we can know what the second component is, or its direction we must draw a line to, and at rightangleswith, the'direction of force through G F, giving us H I, which forms one arm of a lever constituted by the truck whose pivot is atpoint D. The second arm of the lever constituted by the truck is H D. Since H I equals lO-and H D equals 32, then, as 32:10: :50,000 lbs. equals 15,625 lbs. at D, in the direction D J, which now gives us the second component at H. Therefore, draw H M parallel with D J and now project the line L H (continued indefinitely) down 'which cut off H 0 equal to H L'which now gives us one side of the desired parallelogram. The other side is easily obtained from the fact that the forces are opposite and equal. Therefore, instead of repeating the above process tofind that which we already know, we need only draw H N through C equal in length to H O, and complete the parallelogram H N P .0, then the diagonal P H (14,000 lbs.) will equal the lateral thrust against the outer rail as compared with 45,250 lbs. in Fig. 9. The advantage, therefore, of truck bumpers in the mitigation of derallmg forces is one not to be overlooked, or in any way to be disregarded.

Figs. 7 and 8; In reference to these it should benoted that there are no vehicle-s crowding in front or at the'rear of the two coaches shown. This fact accounts for the second arm of the lever constituted by the spreading and rail-breaking force against the outside rail by the resultant thrust representedby the diagonal A 24, of the parallelogram A, '2, 2+ 4, which equals 9,000 lbs.

for every 42,500 lbs. at right-angles with the radial lines D C and F E. Whereas in Fig.-

8, where side bumpers are usedas in England and on the continent-the lateral .or diagonal outward thrust is reduced to A 24, which in this case only represents 4,500 lbs. as against 9,000 lbs. in the previous example.

The assumed 50,000 lbs. of crowding force in theabove example is, of course, insignificantly small as compared with the enormous forces set up by a rapidly moving train. If the force should be a tract-ive, instead of a crowding, one; then, every inside truckwheel except the leaders and off side front driving wheel; and, the off side wheels of the rear .truck, will be in forcible contact with the inside rail. Therefore, no outside rail could ever be broken by any other wheels than the leaders'of the locomotive in which case the locomotive would be; the first to leave the track; No other vehicle could possibly leave the outside rail, in an outward direction when thelocom'otive is in traction on a curve, except the leading wheels of thetender which is closely coupled v to an engine with an unreasonably long overlap which will cause the leading wheels of the tender to be violently thrown with terrific lateral force against the outside rail especially when the locomotive has just made the'curve and the tender entering it. The low centerof gravity of the tender lends itself an easy prey to the said lateral and buckling forces. This difiiculty, however, is entirely overcome by the new design and construction of boiler andtender which shall form one unusually long rigid and infrangible structure substantially as set forth in Fig. 2.

.A long wheel base in a locomotive is just as essential for easy negotiation of curv s as it is for a horse-drawn vehicle to be fitt d with large wheels to negotiate rough and uneven roads. The former bridges over the curves in the rails, while the latter bridges over the hollows and inequalities of the road. The mass of the load of a locomotive does not travel so far or so fast around curves with a long wheel base as it does with-a short one. The deduction is that there is greater safety and economy in'the former than in the latter.

Having-thus described my invention, what I claim is 1. In a locomotive a boiler, tender andinterposed-cab between them, connected to each other and to 'a supporting frame so as to form, an unusuallylong rigid and infrangible structure providing a 'long flexible wheel base, having in combination therewith a plurality of pivotal driving. and supporting trucks located at or near the. extremities of said structure.

to forma long-rigid and infrangible structure providing an unusually long flexible wheel base, having in combination therewith,

each other and to alsupporting frame so as to form a long rigid and infrangible structure'providing an unusually long flexible wheel base, having in combination therewith a plurality of pivotal supporting trucks located at or near the extremities of said-structure, one of the said trucks provided with driving mechanism. i I

4. In a locomotive a boiler, tender and interposed cab betweenthem, connected to each other and to a supporting frame so as to form an unusually long rigid and'infrangible structure, having in combination therewith a plurality of supportingpivotal driving trucks fitted with slde bumpers at one end of the said trucks.

5. .In a locomotive a boiler, tender and interposed cab between them, connected to each other and to a supporting frame so as to form an unusually long rigid and infrangible structure, having in combination therewith a plurality of supporting pivotal trucks, the rear one of said trucks fitted with driving mechanism while the leading truck is provided with free wheels, both of said trucks fitted with side'bumpers.

6. In a locomotix e a boiler, tender and- -1nterposed cab between them, connected to each other and to a supporting frame so asv to form an unusually long rigid.-andin frangible structure providing an extended wheel base, having in combination therewith truck. a

7. In a locomotive a boiler, tender and interposed cab between them, connected to each other and to a supporting frame so as to' form an unusually long rigid and infrangible structure, having in combination therewith a reversible leading free wheeled pivotal truck fitted with side bumpers at each end ofthe rigid frame-work of the said truck.

8. The combination with a boiler and tena reversiblev leading free wheeled pivotal" der forming with the underframe a rigid,

unitary. structure, the ,underframe being ex: tended beyond the common length, of driving trucks only having cylinders, and pivoted to the said frame near its ends to furnish a wheel base of unusually great length and thereby providing great fire-box space, the said trucks being also supplied with bumpers.

9. The combination with a boiler and tender forming with the under-frame a rigid, unitar structure, the underframe being extende beyond the common length, of a plurality of driving and supporting, pivotal In testimony whereof I have hereunto set trucks near its ends to furnish a Wheel base my hand in presence of two subscriblng wit- 1o of great length and great fire-box space, the masses.

said trucks bein also so lied with bum ers. T,

.10. The combi nation v ith the forward end THOMAS G' of the boiler and the extended frame of a Witnesses: bolster provided with a forwardly extended F. T. F. JOHNSON, base and interposed between them. JAMES L. CRAWFORD.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of latents,

Washington, D. G. 

